Wednesday, May 31, 2017

PCG Leaders' Pathetic Flattering of Gerald Flurry

While reading through the May-June 2017 issue of PCG's recruitment magazine, The Philadelphia Trumpet, I could not help but note the numerous times the writers will quote their leader, Gerald Flurry. Look at how they flatter their leader.

This is from Brad MacDonald's article written shortly after the attack at Westminster in which five innocent people were murdered. This issue was published before the frighting attack in Manchester in which twenty-two innocent people were murdered.

“People are just not alert to what’s
happening in this world, and that
includes the media,” Trumpet editor in
chief Gerald Flurry said in his Dec. 22,
2002, Key of David television program.
“God calls most of the watchmen just
dumb dogs. They won’t bark! They
won’t tell you what’s really happening,
either because they don’t know—
and even if they do know they won’t
really tell you the blatant, scary truth
about all this.” (p. 6.)

This is from Jeremiah Jacques' article about race relations. This article also ends with advertising for an article by Flurry.

In 2015, Trumpet
editor in chief Gerald Flurry called
attention to a similar situation. That
year, a psychopathic, white supremacist
in Charleston, South Carolina, opened
fire on the Emanuel African Methodist
Episcopal Church, killing nine black
people. The victims’ relatives shocked
America by saying that instead of hating
the racist murderer, they forgave
him. They said they were in deep pain,
but that they were praying for the killer.
“This example should have been held up
for the whole nation to follow,” Mr. Flurry
wrote. “This is a lesson and an example
for all of us in a way of life that can really
solve our problems!” (July 3, 2015). (p. 17.)

This is from Brent Nagtegaal's article scare mongering that Iran is supposedly using the Houthis to control the Bab el-Mandeb Strait passing Yemen. For whatever reason Brent Nagtegaal quotes Flurry three times.

Ever since the Houthis took over
Yemen’s capital Sanaa in late 2014, the
Trumpet has emphasized that this was
actually a victory for Iran. In the April
2015 issue, editor in chief Gerald Flurry
wrote, “The Houthis’ takeover of Yemen
was not just a grassroots revolution. It
was a part of a deliberate and calculated
Iranian strategy to conquer the Red Sea. (p. 20.)

***

Gerald Flurry wrote in 2015 that the
“Houthi takeover in Yemen proves that
Iran is implementing a bold strategy
to control the vital sea lane from the
Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea”
(op cit). This was at a time when most
commentators were focusing on the Houthi rebellion as an attempt to take
over land and destabilize Iran’s rival,
Saudi Arabia, which is Yemen’s northern
neighbor. But Mr. Flurry foresaw that
Iran’s interest in the Houthi uprising
was aimed at a vital strategic goal: domination
of the southern Red Sea passage. (p. 21.)

***

Since 1994, Gerald Flurry has forecast that Iran would
grow to become the dominant power in the Middle East,
heading up a powerful alliance of radical Islamic nations
known as the king of the south. The king of the north in
this prophecy is a united Europe led by Germany. While
the world is mostly blind to it, some in Europe are waking
up to Iran’s plan to capture the Mediterranean and the
Red Sea. The Europeans see that this strategy and Iran’s
overall strategy of aggressiveness and terror is a definite
push. And Europe will eventually push back.

On February 3, in a letter to supporters of the Trumpet
and other Philadelphia Church of God projects, Mr.
Flurry wrote that the aggressive king of the south is
about to push the world into an all-out world war. The
increasingly violent actions by Iran and its proxies in the
Red Sea are one part of that push; a push that will ultimately
succumb to a violent and forceful counterstrike
by a superior force from the north. (p. 36.)

This is from an article by Jeremiah Jacques scaring mongering that the United States is supposedly losing power and influence among allies in Asian nations. He cites the infamous attack in Benghazi, Libya in 2012 in which four brave, courageous and innocent Americans were murdered. It is terrible to see their memory being used to prop up PCG's dogmas about the future.

On Oct. 1, 2012, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry said
America’s flat-footed reaction to the Benghazi massacre the
month before meant that the Leviticus 26:19 prophecy had
then been fully fulfilled. He said: “It’s no longer God saying, ‘I
will break the pride of your power.’ It’s now God has broken it!
I’ve never seen America in such a low as this!” (p. 25.)

This is from the recruitment magazine's WorldWatch section scare mongering that Iran might get a nuclear weapon from North Korea.

Editor in chief Gerald Flurry
asked in the April 2016 Trumpet
issue, “Why were Iranian officials
present for North Korea’s
illegal nuclear weapons tests?
Are the Iranians outsourcing
their nuclear program, or at
least parts of their nuclear
bombs?” (p. 29.)

This is from Richard Palmer's article about the rise of the far right in Europe and the recent Dutch elections. He quotes Flurry twice and also quotes Brad MacDonald.

Since its inception in 1990, the
Trumpet has intently watched for the
emergence of a strongman in Germany.
“Routinely in German history, when
Germans become anxious about world
events, they call on a
strongman to lead them!”
writes Trumpet editor in
chief Gerald Flurry in [a 2016 booklet entitled] A
Strong German Leader Is
Imminent. “They have done
so throughout history—and they are
going to do it again.”
“The weakness being demonstrated
by the West is exposing the crying
need for stronger leadership. And
whether or not people want to believe
it, that leadership is going to arise in
Germany,” he writes.
“Today, Europeans are looking for
another ruler like Charlemagne.” (p. 32.)

***

In A Strong German Leader Is Imminent,
Mr. Flurry writes, “Daniel 11:21
prophesies that this strong leader will
come into power ‘by flatteries’—probably
not by votes, but through a coalition
government of some kind.”
“The Jamieson, Fausset and Brown
Commentary says ‘the nation shall not,
by a public act, confer the kingdom on
him, but he shall obtain it by artifice,
‘flattering,’’’ writes Brad Macdonald in
the same booklet. “In other words, a
deceived public, or a group of European
leaders, likely invites this man into power.”
“This soon-coming ruler could literally
be called a king,” notes Mr. Flurry.
“Even if he is not, the Bible gives him
that label. When the Bible talks about a
king, in most cases it’s saying that this
is not a democratic government.” (p. 32.)

It looks pathetic seeing them flatter their leader by quoting him. So often PCG's leaders bad mouth mainstream society as somehow failing to meet their standards

If You are new please read this

Hand in Hand for Syria

Keep Somalia's Remittances Open

I encourage readers to sign this petition from Oxfam calling upon the U.S. government to let the Somali diaspora continue to send remittance to their loved ones in Somalia.

Moves have been made to shut down such remittances from Somalis in America. Many Somalis need these remittances. The remittances to Somalia are larger than foreign aid contributions and are a lifeline to these people caught in trouble and turmoil.

It is true that HWA said that some Eastern European states would break away from Moscow's orbit and join the European Empire he said would arise at any moment. But he never talked of the Soviet Union collapsing. He did not teach that. Also he portrayed the rise of the European Empire to be far quicker then what has actually happened. In Mystery of the Ages Christ was supposed to return by 2005 at the most.

So assertions that the fall of the Berlin Wall somehow prove that HWA was right is just complete nonsense spread by people who, for whatever reason, are still in denial that HWA was a false prophet who merely talked out of his own "human reasoning".

Truth about Roderick C. Meredith

What sort of man is he? A man who could say things like this.

"Mr. Armstrong has reminded us again that we are to disfellowship any members who attend GTA's [Garner Ted Armstrong's] campaigns, church services or other meetings. Some of our weaker members apparently do not realize that this man is in direct rebellion against God and His government! We must not allow them, or ourselves, to rationalize about this matter, to try to "help the underdog," or in any other way lend support to one whose gross immorality, whose long standing "play acting" and hypocrisy, and whose direct insubordination to the Government of God has long been and is now a source of confusion and DIVISION among God's people. So, as per Mr. Armstrong's instruction, I charge and exhort every one of you faithful ministers of the living Christ to explain this in no uncertain terms to your members, to warn them about this cause of division and then to disfellowship any who consort with GTA or any of his fellows." (Roderick C. Meredith, Pastor's Report, May 21, 1979, pp. 1-2.)

David Robinson on Roderick C. Meredith

"During the ten years I have been an employee of the Worldwide Church, you have been poorly spoken of by most of the ministers and employees I have known. I vividly remember the absolute unbounded glee that was openly expressed by a good number of respected men in the church when you were first "shanghaied." [In 1972.] I could begin by naming names, which I am sure would shock you. I was one of the few who stood, where possible, for you. Your tenure as superintendent of ministers, as I believe the office was then called, was looked on as nightmarish. While you held office during the years of growth, most of those whom I know gave you very little credit for that growth. Almost everyone whom I know, whether they be former friends of yours, or continuing foes, recalls insensitive and terrible things you have done. Without exception, at least among my acquaintances, they all credit you with an unbridled lust for power and list you as one who is willing to pay the price of gaining that power, no matter what. I have, through many of the last few years, believed you had principles you would not violate. Many a man of experience in the church assured me of my error. Events have proven me wrong and them right. Mr. Armstrong has himself been widely quoted as saying of you that you were so righteous that you were so "righteous you were unrighteous." " (David Robinson, Herbert Armstrong's Tangled Web, Chapter 16, p. 207.)

Of course it is impossible for me to personally verify these assertions but people deserve to know what this knowledgeable man had to say about him.